we heard from president obama earlier from the white house briefing room. we're going to take a look at his comments now on the fiscal cliff and the prospects for a deal going forward. >> good afternoon, everybody. for the past couple of months i've been working with leaders from both parties to try to forge an agreement that will grow our economy and shrink the deficit. a balanced plan that will cut spending in a responsible way but also ask the wealthiest americans to pay a little more. above all, avoid the taxing the middle class. i still want to get this done. it is the right thing to do for our families, businesses, and our expire economy. but the hour for immediate action is here. it is now. we're now at the point where in just four days every american's tax rates are scheduled to go up by law. every america's paycheck will get considerably smaller. that would be the wrong thing to do for our economy, it would be bad for middle-class families and it would be bad for businesses that depend on family spending. fortunately, congress can prevent it from h